Captain James Burleson
Bastrop, Bastrop County, Texas
Marker Inscription
Chosen commissary by General Andrew Jackson, War of 1812. Edward Burleson, his son, accompanied him as bookkeeper. Participated in the Battle of New Orleans, January 8, 1815. Served under his son, Edward, Army of Texas in the Grass Fight, 1835. Born May 4, 1758; died January 3, 1836.
Erected by Texas Historical Commission
The Story
Captain James Burleson served as a commissary under General Andrew Jackson in the War of 1812 and fought at the Battle of New Orleans in January 1815, with his son Edward alongside him as bookkeeper. Decades later, the aging veteran took up arms again under that same son in the Army of Texas at the Grass Fight of 1835. Born in 1758, he died in early 1836 as Texas fought for its independence.
Why it matters
Burleson's life links the young United States' defense at New Orleans to the Texas Revolution, embodied in a father and son who fought side by side across two eras.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
James Burleson's life stretched across nearly the whole early history of the United States. Born in 1758, he was a young man when the American Revolution began and a seasoned elder by the time the young nation fought Britain again in the War of 1812. That second war ended with a famous American victory at New Orleans, a battle that made Andrew Jackson a national hero.
In the decades that followed, Americans pushed west and south in large numbers. Many crossed into Mexican Texas, drawn by generous land grants. By the 1830s, tensions between the Anglo-American settlers and the Mexican government were rising, and in 1835 they boiled over into the Texas Revolution.
The Burleson family took part in all of it. Their story follows the American frontier from the Southern backcountry, through Jackson's campaigns, to the hill country of Texas, where Bastrop was one of the settlements on the edge of Anglo settlement.
People & events
During the War of 1812, General Andrew Jackson picked James Burleson to serve as a commissary, the officer in charge of getting food and supplies to the troops. It was a vital job. An army that can't eat can't fight. His son Edward came along as his bookkeeper, keeping the accounts. Father and son were both at the Battle of New Orleans on January 8, 1815, when Jackson's mixed force beat back a British attack.
Twenty years later the roles flipped. Edward Burleson had become a leader of Texas volunteers, and in 1835 his father, now in his late seventies, served under him in the Army of Texas. That fall the Texans besieged Mexican troops at San Antonio. In late November they clashed with a Mexican party in what became known as the Grass Fight, named because the mules the Texans captured, hoping for silver, turned out to be carrying fodder grass.
James Burleson died just weeks later, in January 1836, before the Alamo and before the victory at San Jacinto that won Texas its independence. His son Edward went on to become one of the Republic of Texas's best-known soldiers and statesmen.
Its place in the American story
Burleson's life ties two famous chapters of American history into one family story. The Battle of New Orleans gave the young United States a burst of national pride and launched Andrew Jackson toward the presidency. The Texas Revolution, a generation later, set off a chain of events that would bring Texas into the Union and reshape the map of the continent.
The Burlesons show how many of the people who settled Texas carried habits and loyalties from the earlier American frontier. Men who had fought under Jackson, or whose fathers had, brought their militia traditions and their ways of organizing into the Texas conflict. This kind of family thread ran through much of early Texas history.
There is also something very human in this marker. It is rare to find an old man who serves under his own son's command. That says a lot about frontier families, in which age did not excuse anyone from the fight and leadership could pass from one generation to the next on the battlefield itself.
If you visit
This monument stands in Bastrop, one of the oldest towns in Texas, set along the Colorado River among the pine woods of the Lost Pines. As you read it, think about the span of history it covers: a man born before the Declaration of Independence who lived to see Texas break away from Mexico.
Bastrop rewards a stroll. Its historic downtown has many old buildings and plenty of other markers that tell the story of the town's early days. Pair this stop with a walk along the river or a visit to the surrounding pine country, which makes a striking change from the open prairies of Central Texas.
Bastrop is an easy drive from Austin, so it is a natural add-on to a Hill Country or Central Texas trip. If you are following the Texas Revolution, it fits well with a route to San Antonio and the Alamo, where the siege James Burleson joined in 1835 played out.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · James Burleson
- · Edward Burleson
- · Andrew Jackson
Related events
- · Battle of New Orleans
- · Grass Fight
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Stephen Williams
Winchester, TX
A veteran of the War of 1812, Stephen Williams left North Carolina and followed the great southern migration through Georgia and Alabama before reaching Texas in 1832. In 1843 he took a land grant in Washington County, where he became a prominent landowner and devoted Baptist. He is best remembered as a founding member of the Texas Baptist Education Society, and his farmstead stayed in the family for over 115 years.
Bastrop County Courthouse
Bastrop, TX
Bastrop, one of Texas's oldest towns, anchored a county seat whose courthouse dates to 1883, in the confident Gilded Age decades when Texas counties raised substantial public buildings to signal permanence and civic pride. A courthouse of this era stood at the center of local government, commerce, and community life.
Baron de Bastrop Monument
Bastrop, TX
This monument honors Felipe Enrique Neri, the Baron de Bastrop (1770–1829), a colonizer whose intervention proved decisive for Anglo-American Texas. As a land commissioner and Red River empresario, he helped Moses Austin win the first Spanish contract to colonize Texas in 1821 and later served in the Congress of Coahuila and Texas. In 1837 the town and county — once called Mina — were renamed Bastrop in his memory.
Bastrop County Jail
Bastrop, TX
Built in 1891–92 to a design by prominent Houston architect Eugene T. Heiner, the Bastrop County Jail combined civic function with real architectural ambition: tan brick walls trimmed in red, a pressed-metal cornice, and a mansard roof. A clever exterior disguised the fact that jailer's quarters occupied the first floor while cell blocks filled the second and third. It served the county until 1974.